The invention refers to a pipe-form connector for cable ducts with two or more connecting pieces, the end sections of which are formed as plug-type connectors for pipes.
Electrical lines laid in machines, apparatus, and particularly in motor vehicles, such as e.g. trucks and busses, as also in other large equipment, must be protected against external effects, whether they be of a mechanical nature or whether they are caused by the weather. According to prior art, such electrical lines, which are gathered together for the most part to form a so-called cable loom and are often pre-fabricated ready for use in the respective machine or type of vehicle, are incorporated into ducts and these ducts are then installed. Such cable ducts must be cut down to correspond to the fabricated cable looms and be joined end-to-end by means of pipe connectors. Pipe connectors can be, for example, simple, straight couplers, elbows, or multilateral branch pieces, which are inserted between the individual rounds of the cable ducts.
Cable ducts made of plastic are also known, particularly those made of polyamides and these are joined underneath each other by means of pipe connectors, as is common in water system constructions. It is necessary for this purpose that the pipe ends be threaded and that the pipe connectors have a screw cap on each of their end sections. A gasket is also inserted into this screw cap, thus assuring a tight connection when the screw cap is screwed on.
Pipe connectors thus formed call for a considerably increased diameter with respect to the running cable duct and therefore require a relatively large mounting space. In particular, an additional mounting space is needed for manipulating the screw cap, if the lines are not already fabricated with the cable ducts and pipe connectors prior to assembly.
However, the above has a basic disadvantage, since the lines must be threaded through the close section of the pipe connector. This work is very time consuming and thus labor-intensive, if the lines are very long. In vehicle construction, for example in busses, trailers, and semi-trailer trucks, line lengths of 20-40 meters occur throughout.
Corrugated pipes are also used as cable ducts, especially those in which the ribs of the corrugated pipe are arranged parallel to each other in the planes perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the pipe. In this way the pipe ends do not have to be threaded, but rather the pipe connector must have an outside thread instead of the screw cap. A slotted spring washer is then introduced onto the pipe ends in the last or next-to-last groove of the pipe for purposes of attachment, and the pipe end is attached to the pipe connector by means of a screw cap introduced beforehand on the pipe ends with a gasket inserted in between.
In pipe connections assembled in this way, the long electrical lines must not only be drawn through the pipe connector itself, the screw cap, and the gasket ring, but also msut be drawn through the slotted, spring washer. There is also the necessity that the pipe connector be threaded on each of its end sections.
It is a principal object of the invention to avoid the above-stated disadvantages in connection with the manufacture of cable looms.
It is a further object of the invention, consistent with the foregoing, to avoid or reduce the amount of tedious line threading and pulling lines through pipe connectors and attendant shaping of pipe connectors per se.
It is a further object of the invention, consistent with the foregoing, to provide simpler and lower cost forms of pipe connectors, achieving such economies through, among other things, eliminating the need for special screw caps, sealing gaskets, spring washers and the like as well as avoiding the need for screw threading.
It is a further object of the invention, consistent with the foregoing, to reduce mounting space required for connectors.